Marlborough Sound - Water and Wildlife

I am writing this on the balcony of our room overlooking Kenepura Sound. It is just idyllic, the hills reach right down to the turquoise blue water. The waves are lapping on the beach, and it is about 25 degrees View from the window will be at the head of the blog.. Fantastic. I hope I am not laying it on too thick but it really does seem a long way from home, especially when my mother told me she was stuck in the snow!!!
Getting here was fun, from the busy port of Picton, where there are boats of all shapes and sizes and a seaplane, we took a water taxi. It held about 20 people inside and six including us outside. As soon as it was out of the harbour it accelerated and it was like riding a jetboat, fantastic. This boat dodged in and out of the Sound until we reached a small inlet. From there all the baggage was unloaded to a truck and the passengers boarded a small minibus for a journey of about a mile to the modern hotel, tastefully built overlooking an inlet.. The best hotel transfer that I have done. Unfortunately the run today looks as though it might be up hill.
Previously we had driven Queen Charlottes Drive, this time in the sun, stopping at the Green Mussel capital of the world, Havelock for a flat white by the marina. Again it is very difficult to describe the scenery adequately, just fabulous. Round every bend another stupendous view.
Well must go now as there is wine tasting at 5.30 followed by an evening cruise on the Sound with local sauvignon blanc and salmon canapés, then a Valentines day dinner. Really life is just so stressful.
The boat cruise was very interesting, basically we joined the boat taxi that was serving the outlying parts of the Sound. it deposited guests at beautiful lodge hotels, an elderly lady going to see friends, bread for a hotel, and picked up people who had been walking around the Sound. It was a work-a-day cruise. Also looked at a salmon farm, contained 600,000 fish of which 10 to 12,000 are caught everyday. There was incredible wildlife, birds you would expect but we saw a black ray swimming in the shallows. Finally back to the hotel for a Valentines Night dinner, what a lovely day.